


Taking Care of Vanya

by actlikesummer



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Sickfic, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:02:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25963309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actlikesummer/pseuds/actlikesummer
Summary: Vanya goes home to collect some stuff and never comes back. Diego is worried.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 13
Kudos: 261
Collections: The Umbrella Academy





	Taking Care of Vanya

**Author's Note:**

> Can anyone tell that I'm obsessed with Protective!Diego when it involves Vanya? Because I am.
> 
> Also, that cliffhanger never happened. Yeah. Just keep that in mind when reading.

Diego sighed as he sat in his car, staring at the building he had been parked in front of for fifteen minutes. They had only been back 2019 for about a week when Vanya had mentioned heading back to her apartment to grab some of her stuff. She had promised an anxious Allison that she would merely be gone an hour; that she just needed some clothes and some of her more important belongings.

That had been three days ago. She hadn’t come back.

He wouldn’t lie and say that Allison was the only one who was worried. Luther had suggested Five just jump over to her place and find out what happened, but he was insistent that she wouldn’t want that and wasn’t going to invade her privacy that way.

Diego didn’t have his brother’s restraint.

It wasn’t a secret that he and Vanya hadn’t been super close in a long time. Between their less than stellar upbringing, her book, the apocalypse, and all of their years apart, they’d barely ever spent time together that didn’t involve fighting or harsh looks.

But he couldn’t hide the fact that he was worried about her. She was the smallest of them—and yes, he included Five in that list—and though her powers were strong and controlled enough to protect herself, he still needed to know that she was okay.

Shaking his hair, he climbed out of the car and made his way into her building. He’d told the rest of his siblings that he was hitting the streets as he had before they’d jumped back in time, and though he’s pretty sure they only half believed him, no one stopped him.

He took his time walking up the stairs of her building, knowing it wouldn’t take him long to get to the second floor. He’d seen her windows from the outside and noted that she didn’t have any locks on them. He’d have to talk to her about that if she planned on staying there.

Arriving at her apartment, he knocked a few times and waited for her to answer. When she didn’t answer, he knocked again and listened for any sign that she was inside. When he didn’t hear anything, he nearly turned to leave, but that protective feeling in his gut flared up and stopped him.

Testing the doorknob, Diego noted that she at least had the sense to lock her door behind her. Knowing if she caught him she’d make him regret it, he glanced around to make sure he was alone in the hallway before crouching to the ground to start picking her lock. It wasn’t his finest moment as a brother, but he figured he could lie his way out of it later.

Hearing the familiar click of the door opening, he stood and quietly walked into her apartment. He’d never been there and seeing how empty and barren it was hurt his heart a little. Vanya had spent her whole life feeling like nothing, and that’s precisely how she’d decorated her apartment to feel. He made a mental note to show her that she had more worth than that as they moved forward.

Inching inside, he shut the door behind him and moved into her living room. He saw mail piled up on the small coffee table and figured she had brought it inside when she had gotten there. Moving to the kitchen made him pause.

Her keys were lying on the table, along with the jacket she had worn when she left the house. He was instantly on alert, knowing she wouldn’t have left without her keys. Not willingly, anyway.

He grabbed a knife out of instinct as he made his way down her small hallway and noted the open door to her bedroom. He was almost there when he heard a little noise and stopped. He waited quietly for a second before he heard another thump and changed his direction, facing the bathroom.

Diego hesitated as the door was shut, but decided modesty could be thrown out when his sister hadn’t contacted them in three days. Raising his hand, he knocked lightly and cleared his throat.

“Vanya?” Silence. “You okay?”

There was silence for another second before he heard a quiet whimper.

 _“Screw it.”_ He thought and opened the door.

His heart plummeted, and he barely registered his knees hitting the ground as he scrambled to get next to his sister. Knife forgotten on the floor of the hallway, he put his hand on her arm only to feel the immense heat radiating off of her.

He felt like an idiot. It was apparent to him now that she hadn’t needed to come back here for any of her stuff, but because she felt sick and hadn’t wanted to bother anyone. She still felt as if she was in their way, and this was the result.

Vanya was curled up on the floor, her face buried into the cold tiles as her body shivered with fever. Her hair was plastered to her face, and Diego brushed it away quickly. Looking around the small room, he saw that she’d either forgotten or didn’t have the energy to flush the toilet after her last puking session and took care of that for her.

Then he leaned over her and tilted her head toward him, causing her to whimper again. “Vanya. Hey, sis, come on and open those eyes for me.”

Her eyes fluttered in response but didn’t open. Cursing silently, he forced himself to come up with a plan. It took only a second before he found himself sliding his arm under her back—he cringed at the sweat sticking to her shirt—and lifted her into a sitting position. Her body pitched forward, and he caught her against his chest. He pushed the worry he felt down inside of him and slid his other arm under her legs before lifting her into his grasp.

Hurrying to the front door, he made the afterthought to grab her keys on his way out. He was careful as he ran down the stairs and sped to his car. He struggled to open the passenger door for only a second, but he figured it out and gently placed her on the seat. He reclined the chair a bit so she wouldn’t flop forward and slammed the door.

He was just starting the car when a hand fell limply onto his arm. Turning quickly, he saw Vanya with her glossy eyes barely open and shook his head. “You with me, Van?”

She groaned a response he couldn’t understand but took it as a yes. “You’ll be okay. I’m taking you to Mom.” Then he sighed. “Next time, just stay at the house, alright? None of us are going to hold it against you if you don’t feel well.”

She groaned again, and he nodded, taking it as another sign that she’d heard him. He turned his attention back to the road and focused on getting home as quickly as possible.

* * *

Diego didn’t have one care as he kicked open the side door and carried Vanya inside. She weighed almost nothing, which was something he’d worry about when she wasn’t yet again passed out in his arms, and he hurried through the empty kitchen.

“Mom?” Making his way into the foyer, he was annoyed by the unusual lack of people. “Mom! Gonna need some help here!”

He made his way toward the infirmary and shook his head in disbelief because no home should have a built-in hospital, as footsteps came rushing down the stairs.

“Oh my God, Vanya!” Allison gasped as she matched her pace to his.

“What the hell happened?” Five had materialized next to him.

“Thankfully, I don’t share your morals and broke into her apartment,” Diego grunted as he laid her on the exam table Grace had set up. “Found her on the bathroom floor, unresponsive.”

“Oh, my dear.”

All three siblings looked up at their mother as she entered the room and quickly got to work. Knowing she would be pulling out the needles for an IV soon, Five turned to his brother.

“Diego, why don’t you go find everyone else. Allison, maybe go find her some clothes?”

Catching their brother’s meaning, she grabbed Diego’s arm and dragged him out. No one mentioned how his eyes stayed locked on Vanya’s shivering body or how his hand had gripped her wrist to feel her pulse unconsciously.

* * *

Everyone sat around the living room, murmuring when Grace stepped into the room, smiling at them. Diego looked up quickly, his worry for Vanya only rising as the time went on.

“How’s Vanya?” Ben asked quietly.

“Your sister is doing much better.” Grace nodded. “I was able to give her fluids and get her fever down a bit, so she’s just resting. Thankfully, your brother found her just in time, or things could have gotten a lot worse.”

He could feel everyone looking at him and purposely didn’t look back. “Good.”

“Honey, she actually asked to talk to you,” Grace told him, gesturing behind her. “She’s resting, but I think she wants to thank you.”

He stood immediately, ignoring how his siblings watched him go. He let his feet carry him to the infirmary and stood in the doorway hesitantly.

She was wearing the pajamas that Allison had brought her earlier and seemed to be doing better than when he last saw her.

“You can come in, you know.” Vanya’s voice was quiet but helped to still his wildly beating heart. “Don’t worry; I won’t impale you or something.”

He ignored her attempt at a joke and walked up next to the table. “Why did you do that?”

She looked down at her hands. “I didn’t want to bother anyone. I’m still getting used to this…sibling bonding stuff.”

Shaking his head, he sighed. “Vanya, you could have di-di-died.”

He cursed his stutter, but her eyes went soft. “I’m sorry, Diego.”

“I just…” He pictured her curled up on the floor and had to hold back a shutter. “I don’t think you understand how it felt to find you like that. I thought…”

“I know.” She told them, nervously picking at the skin around her thumbnail. “By the time I knew it was bad, I didn’t even have the energy to get the phone to call any of you.”

He didn’t respond as he knew that was a logical answer, but the fear he’d felt when finding her still filled his chest. He looked up when he felt Vanya’s hand on his.

She smiled. “Mom said I was okay enough to go back to my room. Would you help me?”

Something he thought could be trust and relief replaced the fear, and he moved to help her up. He kept his arm around her even though she felt pretty steady and helped her walk back to her room.

When they got there, he walked her over to her bed and sat her down. “You good?”

She nodded. “Thanks, Diego. For helping me and…”

Her sentence went unfinished, but he knew what she meant. He turned to leave before pausing and looking back at her. “Hey, you know we care, right? You don’t have to hide from us anymore. I just…I thought you should know that.”

She sent him a small smile, and he knew his words had gone a long way in mending their relationship. “I do now.”

Sending her his own, rare, smile he walked out and went to his room, satisfied that he was doing his part to help her know that she wasn’t alone anymore.

Her apartment went up for sale the following day.


End file.
